Rockport Men's Charson Lace-Up Chukka Boot

2020 Updated after 4 years of wear! These shoes are very very long lasting. The soles are still in good shape with lots and lots of walking on concrete in town after years of wear. The heels on the black pair are showing some wear but the brown shoes heels are very little worn despite practically equal wear. The brown shoe strings will need replacing soon. Both pair look practically new when polished. Wearing these shoes is like wearing socks. I hardly know they are on my feet.2016 Bought my first pair of Brown several months ago. Although a little too narrow at first, I tied loosely, used thin socks, and wore them in so now they are great. The heels have hardly worn at all on the concrete in town. They are light, comfortable and wearing them is like walking barefoot. So, I bought a second pair, Black. The black pair didn't need any breaking in and also wear great. These are my preferred shoes, in town on concrete and in the country on grass.

I just purchased my second pair of these fantastic Rockports; this one in brown, to go with the black pair I've had (and worn multiple days per week) for more than eight months. In my experience, wearing dress clothes daily for years, these boots last longer (the leather quality is great, and the lugged, dense foam sole wears quite well on long walks across pavement, etc), are more comfortable (VERY light on the feet, and the Adiprene sole is very forgiving - almost like a pair of athletic shoes), and more versatile (I wear them with both suits - they shine up nicely - and jeans) than any other pair of shoes I've owned that are even close to this price.The only downside (and not much of one, at that...)? They might run just a TINY bit large.At any rate, these boots have become my favorite pair of dress shoes, and my go-to for almost any occasion.

BUY HALF A SIZE SMALLER THAN YOU NEED!!! These boots are great but they do run 1/2 a size large. I did not heed the warnings of others and had to re-order the correct size and cost me an extra 2 days of waiting and had to go through the process or returning the others. This is my 5th pair of Rockports, all the others were either Essential Details or Dressports and I was always a 10(D/M) in those just as I am in Nikes, Ariarts, Sperrys, Merrells, Addidas, Bates and Johnston & Murphys. These boote are very good quality for the money especially since they only cost me $55 when they were originally $140. These boots go great with jeans and kahkis. I am on my feet 95 percent of the time at work and lift a lot of 40 pound cases and my feet feel great by the end of the day. The Adiprene sole gives a lot of comfort and keeps these boots extremely light weight. They are not as comfortable as my Essential Details or Dressports which I could do my morning jog in of I so desired but these are still much more comfortable than any other Chukkas I tried on and beat the pants of any of the other dress shoes/boots I own. The leather looks great but beware the Crazy Horse Brown is just slightly darker than the picture(I think they played with the brightness). Definately would recommend just go down one 1/2 size.

Full disclosure, I love Rockport in general. So for that reason, they are always one of the brands I look at when I want new shoes. I've found them to be super comfortable and reasonably long wearing at a good price. Their partnership with Adidas has resulted in some of the most comfortable dress shoes I've ever owned. And I can almost always find Rockports heavily discounted.I'm not a guy who's going to spend $200 to $500 on a pair of boots or shoes with leather soles. I realize leather soles can be repaired. But leather soles are really slippery when new and even after some wear, they are dangerous / annoying on ice and snow or a wet floor or even carpet. Leather soles also offer zero cushioning and soak through in rain and slush. Modern synthetic rubber soles are just superior in many respects. They are waterproof on day 1 and 2 years in with no maintenance required. They can be molded for traction, looks, or both. They are non marking for the most part. And they can be molded for comfort on the insole and the outsoles provide cushioning that leather can't match. If I can get a pair of shoes under $100 that are way more comfy and last 3+ years, the old school leather shoes make no sense to me.So, my latest thought was to add some brown and black Chukka boots to my wardrobe, mainly for casual wear with jeans but also some business casual wear at work once in a while.I looked around and decided on the Marshall Chukka boot from Rockport in dark brown. That's a smooth shiny leather and I liked them enough to keep them. They are a little better for business casual with the smooth shiny leather but still fine with a pair of jeans.I almost ordered the Marshall Chukka in black but the price was about $40 more than this Charson Chukka. And I liked the look of the flat finish leather for black jeans while realizing it's less suitable for business casual unless you shine them up a little. So I ordered them in black and I really like them. The leather has a lot of character right out of the box.As for size, the Rockport Chukka reviews for all of their models seemed to have a lot of people saying these run really large, like a full size too large. But I also noted that most of the reviews complaining about the size were from people who knowingly or unknowingly had bought the wide (W) version of the boot rather than the medium (M) width. Gotta wonder if people just weren't paying attention. I'm aUS size 11 medium width in most boots and I've owned a lot of Rockports so I ignored the reviews, rolled the dice and ordered both these boots in my usual 11 M size. They fit me fine. They may be a little large but I'd say not even a 1/2 size bigger than other boots I own.The little extra room worked out to my advantage. I replaced the Rockport flat insoles with a pair of Dr Scholls Comfort And Energy Extra Support Insoles. Those are pretty bulky with a big arch support and a deep heel cup that includes a gel pad. With the new insoles, I'd say the fit is near perfect. Snug in the heel and mid foot but with plenty of room in the toe box. And the cushioning is great, very comfy.Water resistance. These Charsons are NOT waterproof out of the box. That flat finish and heavily textured leather is a sure sign that these will soak up water like a sponge. So, I got the leather soaking wet and gave these 2 coats of Nikwax Waterproofing For Leather which is a water borne wax specifically for conditioning and water proofing leather. Once that dried, I gave them a coat with a black cream wax for color and conditioning and then 2 coats of a hard wax polish with KIWI Parade Gloss black. I didn't take them to a high shine as I like the dull finish. The KIWI hard wax was just to help protect against scuffs and scratches. But based on the way the leather takes polish, you can get these to a high shine pretty easily if that's what you want.Now they shed water really well and should be safe to wear in a New England winter as well as really easy to maintain.As for looks, they look great in my opinion. The dull finish and heavily textured leather looks great with jeans. The lugged sole goes well with a casual look and more importantly should do well with snow and slush too. And the stitching on the welt makes them look like a more expensive boot.Highly recommended!